THE graceful maxi-dress sashayed into fashion just in
time for summer and in certain Muslim circles, the joy was
palpable. "It's fantastic," says youth and community worker, Saara
Sabbagh, 37, delighted. "We're all out there, stocking up on maxis
now."

In shops from Supre to Sportsgirl and many small boutiques,
summer's crop of maxi-frocks is a rich and colourful windfall for
many Muslim women. Not only that, many of the prettiest are still
on sale. "I got this for, I think, $30," says university student
Nadine Sabbagh, 19. She shakes out the skirts of a silky,
flame-orange floor-grazer that she has cleverly teamed with a
nut-brown jersey bolero and terracotta silk headscarf.

Her friend, postgraduate psychology student Toltu Tufa, 22, is
also a gifted editor of summer trends. She pulls on a cropped Dotti
denim vest, giving a funky finish to the swathe of sage-green
floral she's matched to an airy silk headscarf, elegantly
swag-draped almost to her waist at the front. She's sharpened the
green with crisp white sleeves and the visible two-finger-wide arc
of an underscarf across her forehead. "I shop here and there 
all over  to find what I want," Ms Tufa says.

The Muslim ensemble may be more complicated than the average
string-strapped sun frock and sandals, but she revels in the extra
challenge. She says the chain stores are handy  particularly
on a student's budget  but also high among her favorite
haunts are fabric outlets such as Spotlight.

"My sister can really sew, but you can also find some beautiful
pieces you can use for scarves." She demonstrates with a glorious
length of bronze silk shot with pink lights. It's been pinched into
a three-dimensional textured pattern with tiny, regular stitches
and Ms Tufa anchors it with an exotic webbed headpiece of bronze
beads. "Gorgeous!' declares photographer Melanie Faith Dove as Ms
Tufa poses.

As an Australian Muslim, Saara Sabbagh and her young friends are
talented cherry-pickers of seasonal fashion trends, adapting what
they can to their definition of hijab. For the uninitiated, at its
most fundamental level the Muslim dress code or hijab instructs men
and women to dress modestly, mostly in loose garments that do not
accentuate their body or overtly express sexuality.

"It's about desexualising the public sphere," explains Ms
Sabbagh. (In the private sphere, the rules relax.) "It's a boundary
between the genders that promotes respect, and it's an extension of
your inner practices (of Islam) into the outer world; practices
like honesty, and being loving, and being at peace with oneself and
one's faith and one's community." She says hijab can be interpreted
in infinite ways by personal choice and by Muslims in various
cultures internationally.

In Australia, where it's estimated that just under 2 per cent of
people are Muslims, hijab instructs men to wear loose clothing ("No
Speedos!" Ms Sabbagh laughs) and women to be covered except for the
face, hands and feet.

"But even that is a personal choice," she says. "Although hijab
is a commandment in Islam, ultimately it is a woman's choice to
embrace it or choose not to practise it according to (her)
individual spiritual journey. There are Muslims who choose not to
wear the scarf at all, and some who choose to wear a complete
covering, including the face. It doesn't mean they're more devout
or that others aren't. It's just their choice."

Like many Muslims, Ms Sabbagh, a mother of three, is well
acquainted with the misunderstanding occasionally triggered by
those choices in Australian communities. "Particularly after
September 11," she recalls, head shaking. "I wondered  I just
couldn't believe  how a statement of faith (hijab) could be
so misunderstood."

Instead of dwelling on the problem, she resolved to solve it
using one of her favourite disciplines: fashion. Now, for almost
eight years, My Dress, My Image, My Choice, a fashion show and
forum for Muslim and non-Muslim women to talk about the issues in
their lives and draw comfort from each other, has regularly led to
full houses of 200 to 300 enthusiastic women.

"We use fashion to bring them together," Ms Sabbagh says. And,
with further funding from the the Department of Immigration and
Citizenship, the forum is now travelling to Brisbane, Sydney,
Adelaide and Tasmania where similar crowds are turning up to see
how women such as Ms Tufa, Saara and Nadine Sabbagh and others
capitalise on the graceful and elegant potential of hijab. Despite
the breadth of individual looks, common to every interpretation of
hijab is an approach to fashion markedly different to the
mainstream's obsession with flesh. It's a difference that triggers
some curiosity  positive and negative  among
non-Muslims. In summer, for example, how do Muslims stay cool? In
fact, they switch to lighter, breezier fabrics and the effect is
probably cooler than the average micro-mini. For Muslim swimmers,
there are also specialised garments such as the Burqini, by Sydney
designer Aheda Zanetti.